COLLEGE PARK — Maryland men’s basketball avoided the dreaded letdown — barely.
After enjoying the highs of upending then-No. 22 UCLA Friday night, the Terps needed a furious comeback in the second half to circumvent what could have been a debilitating setback and defeat visiting Minnesota, 77-71, on Monday night before an announced 10,271 at Xfinity Center.
Freshman center Derik Queen, a Baltimore resident, led the way for Maryland (13-4, 3-3 Big Ten) with a game- and career-high 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Sophomore shooting guard Rodney Rice compiled 21 points, two rebounds and two assists, and junior point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie amassed 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds to propel the Terps to their fourth win in the past six games and 11th victory over the Golden Gophers in the past 12 meetings.
The trio of Queen (18 points in the second half), Gillespie (14) and Rice (8) provided much of the Terps’ punch in the frame. They combined to score 40 points of the offense’s 45 points in the half and helped Maryland overcome a sluggish first half that threatened to saddle the team with a stunning loss.
“That’s just really on us,” Gillespie said. “We didn’t have a lot of energy coming out warming up. We’ve just got to be better at that.”
After Minnesota opened the game by making half of its shots (12 of 24), including 55.6% from 3-point range (5 of 9), the Terps made a concerted effort on defense to make life more difficult. The Golden Gophers’ efficiency dropped to 34.5% (10 of 29) overall and 37.5% from long distance (3 of 8) in the second half and finished at 41.5% (22 of 53).
Maryland coach Kevin Willard said the players’ level of concentration changed between the two halves.
“I just didn’t think we came out with really good defensive intensity,” he said. “We talked about making sure they didn’t get hot from the 3-point line, and we gave up three straight 3s to start the game, and that kind of just got us on our heels. I thought we scored and got some easy buckets when we were kind of able to make them work more consistently where in the first half, I didn’t think we were able to make them work more consistently. I thought we had some turnovers, and I thought we were a little off-tilt offensively and missed some easy buckets.
“In the second half, when you’re able to score 45 points, you’re able to press a little more effectively. Even though we didn’t create turnovers, we were able to get them out of their offense and not let them run things more smoothly.”
Minnesota senior power forward Dawson Garcia racked up 19 points, six rebounds and two steals but was limited to seven points in the second half while dealing with four fouls. Senior point guard Lu’Cye Patterson chipped in 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, and freshman point guard Isaac Asuma came off the bench to add 15 points and two rebounds. But the Golden Gophers (8-9, 0-6) lost to their ninth consecutive Big Ten opponent and haven’t earned a league victory since beating Penn State on March 2.
Trailing 35-32 at halftime for only the second time this season, the Terps started slow and could only watch as the Golden Gophers scored seven of the second half’s first 10 points to inflate their advantage to 42-35.
That’s when Rice began to get hot. He scored seven consecutive points to fuel a 16-4 run for Maryland, and when Gillespie drained a 3-pointer from the right corner to put the Terps ahead, 49-46, that marked their first lead since the score was 14-13 less than six minutes in.
Not to be outdone, Queen scored six points in a row twice, and Rice scored the team’s final seven points — five on free throws.
After scoring a total of 29 points in his past three starts, Queen was two points shy of matching that in just one game. Of his performance, he said, “Basically, I just had to go harder, bring a different mentality, and insert myself into the game.”
Gillespie said he fed off of Queen’s success. “When I see Derik scoring, I want to get him the ball, and then he finds me,” he said. “The whole thing works out.”
Maryland induced Minnesota into committing a season-high 16 turnovers, which the Terps converted into 15 points. That total exceeded the 15 giveaways the Golden Gophers made in an 80-59 loss at Wisconsin on Friday.
Entering the game tied for second to last in 3-point efficiency (31.5% on 105 of 333 shooting), the Golden Gophers found their rhythm in the first half. They connected on 5 of 9 shots (55.6%) from long distance.
Minnesota made its first four shots from behind the 3-point line to assume a 16-14 lead. After Asuma missed a 3-pointer, he hit the team’s fifth in its first six attempts to inflate the advantage to 19-14 midway through the first half.
Maryland, which usually induces opponents into long scoring droughts, could not maintain much semblance of offense in the frame. The offense went cold for 4:11 and 2:55 — the second of which the Golden Gophers capitalized on by using an 8-2 burst for a 33-25 lead.
After scoring just two points through much of the first half, Queen scored the Terps’ last seven points to pull them within 33-32 with 40 seconds remaining. But Garcia sank a hook shot with 10 seconds to go to give Minnesota its seventh halftime lead of the season.
The Golden Gophers’ long-range accuracy forced Maryland to extend its defense, which opened up opportunities in the paint. Minnesota scored 12 points on the interior compared with the Terps’ 16.
The attention Maryland was forced to pay to the perimeter allowed the Golden Gophers to crash the boards to surprising success. Ranking 14th in the Big Ten in rebounding (34.4 per game), they finished with 35 rebounds to the Terps’ 30.
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Maryland at Northwestern
Thursday, 9 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: 105.7 FM
